Contents -Volume INDEX -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889

The Danza

By Arlo Bates (1850–1918)

IF you never have danced the danza,

With its wondrous rhythmic swirl,

While close to your bosom panted

Some dark-eyed Creole girl,

Of dancing you know naught!

By Inez I was taught.

’Tis a dance with strangest pauses;

It moves as the breezes blow:

Her lips were like pomegranate blossoms,

While her teeth were white as snow.

Of beauty I knew naught;

By Inez I was taught.

The fountain splashed in the garden

Where the palm-trees hid the moon;

Who well had danced the danza,

A kiss might crave as boon.

Of loving I knew naught;

By Inez I was taught!